Experimental Research on Mechatronic Nordic Walking Poles

Walking with Nordic Walking poles is commonly used for the rehabilitation of patients after various diseases (strokes, myocardial infarction, limb injuries). The condition for the effectiveness of rehabilitation is the correct performance of gait while walking with poles. For testing gait parameters, mechatronic Nordic Walking poles were equipped with sensors that measure pole orientation, the force acting on the ground, and grip strength. In the work, the issues of constructing the test stand that simulates upper limb movements in gait with Nordic Walking poles was conducted. The general purpose of the research was to evaluate the correct operation of the mechatronic measuring system placed on the Nordic Walking poles. The motions of parts of the developed test stand, with three degrees of freedom, correspond to the movements of the three main segments of the upper limbs (arm, forearm and hand). The control and measuring system of the stand allows limb kinematics obtained from real measurements on the human limb to be simulated. This allowed the correct working of the measuring system placed in the Nordic Walking pole to be verified.